News Today

MOH to pour $350m into finding cures
HEALTH Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday gave his take on an ongoing debate about the future direction of Singapore's biomedical research. He said his ministry had made a strategic decision to go into such research but its focus will be on... [Read more]

London police calm fears after third teen shot dead
LONDON - POLICE chiefs sought to reassure Londoners yesterday after a third fatal shooting in less than two weeks in the south of the city, fuelling fears of an escalating gun culture. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair and senior detectives held... [Read more]

Europe's biggest trial of Islamic terrorists
MADRID - THE trial into Europe's worst terrorist attack in 15 years started in Spain yesterday amid tight security, with 29 mostly Moroccan suspects facing charges in the bombings three years ago. More than 190 commuters were killed in the attacks... [Read more]

Pakistan 'used as base' for Iran blast
TEHERAN - IRAN has charged that home-grown Sunni insurgents have used Pakistan as a base to plan a bombing that killed 11 people and wounded more than 30 in the south-eastern border city of Zahedan last week. Iranian newspapers also published... [Read more]

Bush makes sales pitch for ethanol
WILMINGTON (DELAWARE) - PRESIDENT George W. Bush made a big deal about ethanol, the fuel derived from plants, in his State of the Union address this week. The next morning, he got up close and personal with it, poking his head... [Read more]

Clean toilets please
TOILETS, the most humble of rooms, are taken very seriously at Changi Airport. 'The first and last point of exposure to an airport is the toilet. It gives you an impression of the country,' said Mr Sim. At Changi, the more... [Read more]

Games of chance in Taiwanese politics
TAIPEI - TAIWAN'S rival political camps yesterday found a 'novel' way to resolve a deadlock over the redrawing of electoral boundaries for the year-end legislative polls - through finger-guessing games and drawing lots.The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the main... [Read more]

BOJ rate hike: No telling when flow of easy money will end
THE last time the Japanese yen was this weak against the Singapore dollar, American President Bill Clinton was trying not to get impeached and The X-Files was on television.In recent weeks, the gradually falling yen has sunk to levels against the... [Read more]

Sailor dad dies while watching son sail
A PROUD father who set out to sea to watch his youngest son take part in a sailing contest was found slumped on a nearby beach on Sunday. The boy came in fourth out of 178 participants, but the thrill of... [Read more]

Men who attacked HK pro-democracy legislator jailed
FOUR men who attacked Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho in a McDonald's restaurant last year have been jailed.Mr Ho was clubbed using wooden batons at the crowded restaurant in the central business district in August last year in a case that... [Read more]

Reaching out to the poor, sick and elderly
FOUR wall-to-floor cords hang in each of the 107 studio apartments for the elderly in Eunos. When any of them is pulled, an alarm goes off and a light outside the flat goes on, tripping a response from the Tembusu Neighbourhood... [Read more]